Station-indicator



(No Moda.) sheets-sheen 1. W. C. HEEGN. STATION INDICATOR.

Patented Nov. 11, 1890.

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STATION INDICATOR.

No. 440,400. Patented Nov. 11, 1890.

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UNiTED STATESY PATENT OFFICE.

VILLIAM C. HEEGN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STATION-INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 440,406, dated November11, 1890.

Application filed June 30, 1890. Serial No. 357,249. (No model.)

To all wtont t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. HEEGN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Station-Indicators, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the class of indicators usedupon cars for displaying the names of the successive streets or stationsas they are approached by the car for the information of passengers; andmy object is to provide a device of this character of a comparativelysimple and improved construction, which shall be practically automaticand thoroughly effective in itsoperation.

In the drawings, Figure lis a diagrammatic View showing my deviceapplied to a railwaycar, the latter being indicated by dotted lines,which illustrate it in broken longitudinal section; Fig. 2, an enlargedbroken view, partly in section and partly in elevation, of that part ofmyimproved mechanism which, as hereinafter described, is located on theunder side of the car; Fig. 3, an enlarged perspective view of a detailshowing the preferred construction thereof 5' Fig. 4,an enlargedviewinside elevation of the mechanism contained in the display-case, whichlatter is indicated in dotted lines; and Fig. 5, a broken section takenon line 5 of Fig. 4, and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

The display-case A should be secured in an overhead location and exposedposition in the car, and it has an opening in its facexwhich may beclosed with a pane of glass.

As the operation of my indicator is practically the same whether appliedto a street orrailway car, I shall for the purposes of brevity andconvenience confine its description in connection with the latter, asillustrated in the drawings.

The names of the stations which the car passes are printed in successionupon a web of paper or fabric I, which is fastened at opposite ends uponrollers B B', to be unwound a predetermined extent from one onto theother in each operation of the device to cause the names of stations tobe brought successivelyinto the ield of View, which is the opening inthe front x. The rollers B B are rigid upon their journals s s', whichlatter have their bearings in opposite sides of the case, and betweenthe said rollers and near the front :1; are two rollers t, over whichthe web travels, and which cause the latter t0 extend, with the lengththereof being displayed, close to and parallel with the front of thecase. At one end of the rollerB is a pinion r, loosely mounted upon thejournal s, and on the end of the roller adjacent to the pinion isaspringactuated dog o", which engages the teeth of the pinion and causesthe latter in its positive rotation to turn the roller and in its nega,-tive rotation to slide over the dog, whereby the roller remainsstationary. The journals s s may, to afford the rollers B B the necessary resistance against ready turning, be reduced toward the ends, asshown in Fig. 5, to afford shoulders q when friction-springs q areprovided, having perforations through their centers to surround thereduced p0rtions of the journals, and are compressed into position tobear at their centers, around the perfor-ations, against the saidshoulders, and at their ends against the adjacent sides of the case.

C is a lever fulcrumed upon a shaft p and having an arm C on one side ofthe fulcrum and a segmental toothed edge C2 on the opposite side of thefulcrum engaging the teeth of the pinion fr. The shaft p is rigid, beingsecured at one end to the side of the case and at the other in a bracket0, extending upward from the base of the case. A coiled springD issecured at one end to the shaft p, and at the opposite end to a pin n,extending from the side of the lever. The tendencyl of the spring D isto turn the lever from the position shown in Fig. 4 in the direction ofthe arrow, to cause it to strike at its point m against a stop Z, whichextends from the side of the case across the path of the lever.

On the under side of t-he car is ahanger E, at the lower end of which ispivoted a bar or lever F, which extends normally vertically downward,and comprises an arm 7a below the pivot, and a bifurcat-ed part abovethe pivot affords two divergin g cam-faced edges 7o,pref erablysegmental, as shown.

G is a lever fulcrumed at one end to a bracket 'i on the under side ofthe car and IOO bearing between its ends against astiff spring Zt,confined in a suitable housing h', also on the under side of the car. Onthe free end of the lever G is a laterally-extending roller g, whichprojects between the bifurcated parts of the bar F, and is caused by theaction of the spring h, to press against the cam-faces toward the crotchformedthereby and maintain the bar vertical. A cord or other ilexiblemedium f is fastened at one end to the free end of the lever G and atits opposite end to the end of the arm C of the lever C. It is drawntightly between its end connections and operates, owing to the act-ionof the spring Z2', to maintain the lever C in the position shown, withits arm C against the stop Z. The arm F extends downward a distance,which will cause it to clear all usual obstructions along the roadsuchas tie-bars, planking, or cross-rails-and it may be located to extend ina plane either between or outside the rails of the track. At a desiredpoint in advance of each station an obstruction Il is located in thepath of the lower end of the arm F.

Any form of obstruction of the proper height will answer, though the oneI prefer to employ and show in the drawings comprises a roller e, setcrosswise of the track and mounted on journals having bearings instandards e', sharpened at their lower ends, which permits them to bedriven into a tie to afford the necessary stability.

In operation the web I is wound upon the rollerB, the journal s of whichis squared at one end to receive a key by means of which the winding iseffected. As the car approaches a station the arm F strikes anobstruction H, which swings it, and causes one of its cam-edges Ze(depending upon the direction of movement of the car) to raise the leverG against the resistance of the spring Zz, thus slackening the cord f,which permits the spring D to turn the lever C until it strikes at thepoint m againstthe under side of the stop Z. The segmental toothed edgeC2 of the lever C as it is thus turned rotates the pinion r in thenegative direction, which, as before described, does not producerotation of the roller. When the obstruction II is passed, theresilience of the spring h forces the lever G down, which swings the barF to the vertical position again and draws upon the cord f. The spring71 it will thus be seen, possesses sufficient resilience to overcome theresistance of the spring D, so that the lever C is swung back until itsarm C meets the stop Z again, causing the pinion r to turn in thepositive direction and rotate the roller B. The roller B as it rotatesWinds upon itself from the roller B so much of the web I as will bringinto the field of view the text to be displayed. The operation describedis repeated each time an obstruction II is passed, and the web I may beprovided with the names of stations in proper order for a round trip ofthe car or with the series of names repeated for any desired number oftrips, so that the rewinding of the web upon the roller B', as beforedescribed, need only be done at comparatively long intervals. As thecircumference of the roller B with the web winding upon it increaseswith each rota tion,the names to be displayed would have to be printedupon the web at distances graduated accordingly if regulating means werenot provided to limit7 proportionately with such winding, the distanceof rotation of the roller B. I provide such regulating means in the formof a bent stiff arm d, as shown, to afford the stop CZ', and fastened atone end rigidly to the lever C. The adjustment of the stop device issuch that when the roller B is bare of the web the stop will engage thesurface of the roller at the same time that the point m on the levermeets the under side of the stop Z, and as the web upon the rollerincreases and enlarges its circumference the stop strikes the rollermore and more in advance to gradually lessen the distance of turning ofthe lever by the spring D, and consequently the negative rotation of thepinion .1", so that the return motion of the lever C, which givespositive rotation to the pinion, and thus rotates the roller, asdescribed, is diminished accordingly, and the winding of the web uponthe roller B maintained equal, or substantially so.

When more than one indicator is placed upon a car, as at each end, orwhere the car is divided into compartments, they may allk be actuated bythe same operating mechanism below the car by connecting them with thelever G in the manner described.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

I. In combination with a car, a station-indicator, substantially asdescribed, and operating means therefor, consisting of lever mechanismupon the indicator, and mechanism lccated below the car, connected withthe said lever lnechanism, and comprising a movable bar F, supported toproject normally downward into the plane of suitable obstructionslocated on the road-bed to be moved from its normal position by contactfrom either direction with the said obstructions and thereby actuate thesaid lever mechanism, and a IOO IIL

spring bearing against the bar F and resisting movement thereof from itsnormal position, as set forth.

2. In combination with a car, an indicator,

a downwardly-projecting bar F, pivotally ing an inclosing-case A for theindicator mechanism, rollers B and B mounted in the case, a web I,secured at opposite ends upon the respective rollers to unwind from theroller B onto the roller B and extending between the rollers across thefield of view, a pinion o, adjacent to the roller B, operating whenturned in one direction to rotate the said roller and when turned in theother direction to release the roller, a spring actuated lever C, gearedto the pinion and operative when swung` in a direction against theresistance of its spring to rotate the pinion in one direction and whenreturned by the action of its spring to rotate the pinion in theopposite direction, a downwardly-projecting bar A F, pivotally mountedbelow the car, comprising an arm k, extending down into the plane ofsuitable obstructions located on the roadbed, and an arm aiording acam ka springaotuated lever G, connected with the indicator mechanism to turnthe lever C against ln presence of- J. W. DYRENFORTH, M. J. FROST.

